Userful Desktop™ (formerly DiscoverStation) makes public computer administration easy

Userful Desktop reduces the time, money and energy you pour into purchasing, managing and maintaining your public computers. It's a complete solution - no more patches, upgrades, updates and integration. All you need to do is customize your stations through a simple web site and forget about them. Learn more about how Userful Desktop can improve your managed computing experience in our demo videos.

Hidden costs of traditional public computers

Like an iceberg, the largest cost of public computing is rarely seen -- the time and headaches required to support the workstations. Studies estimate this portion as 80% to 90% of the total cost of ownership.

Consider all the effort needed to fend off viruses, adware, spyware, and prevent hacking and tampering. Consider the time spent installing patches, upgrades and updates. Consider the time your staff spend testing and troubleshooting. Consider the planning you pour into selecting software and the work involved in rolling it out.

Userful Desktop takes care of all these issues, saving time for IT staff, administrators, and public service staff. Our customers tell us that Userful offers a better service while cutting their public computing costs in half and creating IT time savings of up to 80%.

How we reduce your total cost of ownership

• Our 10-to-1 advantage dramatically reduces computer hardware costs
• A pre-installed fully-loaded desktop
• Our comprehensive support package and guarantees save your IT staff time
• The unbreakable public computer desktop frees staff from babysitting and policing computers
• Our remote management tools give you and your staff full power and control

Don't spend any more time and money dealing with public computing woes. Userful has a proven solution that frees your staff for more important assignments and gives your patrons a world-class public computing experience. We can help you achieve more with less.

Read our competitive analysis to see how Userful Desktop measures up against (and beats) other solutions.

"We received numerous compliments from patrons on the new system, and staff training was a non-issue. The total cost for Userful Desktop, factoring together hardware costs and the cost of IT support time, was 75% less than the cost of purchasing and maintaining the computers Userful Desktop replaced."

Harper Apted, Network Manager

Warsaw Community Public Library

Control your applications and customize settings

Userful Desktop helps automate the management of your public computers through powerful session management tools like Userful Manager.

A Session Profile includes settings on what is available to the patron. When a profile is selected, the computer applies all the profile settings: filtering level, time limit, available applications, languages, and more.

Typical Session Profiles:

• Internet & Office (all features)
• Large print ( for seniors and the visually impaired)
• Children's Internet
• Library catalog (Kiosk mode)
• Resume builder

A station's Welcome Screen can include several session profiles for the patron to choose from. Administrators control how patrons use stations by selecting and fine-tuning the profiles to appear on the Welcome Screen. Creating a session profile takes just a few minutes using the Userful Manager site. Userful provides a starter set of profiles suitable to your specific needs.

Userful Manager makes managing hundreds of public computers as easy as ordering a book online.

Enterprise-level support

Our support guarantee is simple: You won't ever need to worry about maintaining or fixing the software on your computers.

Userful takes care of all the software support and sends updates, patches etc. remotely over the Internet.

Support also includes a toll-free number and email and web-based support.

At Userful, support isn't just being there when something goes wrong. It's being proactive and continually updating and improving the system based on your requests and your patrons' needs.

Safeguarding your computers and patrons

Locked-down and tamper-proof, Userful Desktop ensures each user sits down to a clean, intuitive and consistent interface.

When a user logs off the station is cleared of browser histories and downloaded files, guaranteeing their privacy.

Userful Desktop's immunity from viruses, spyware and hackers means your staff and users don't have to worry about threats from the Internet or from abusive users.

Userful Desktop's security architecture and built-in firewall protects the stations from malware and unauthorized access. You'll get advanced content control from the integrated customizable Internet filter as well.

One install does it all

Just one CD installs everything you need from the operating system and application software to security, desktop control and automated record-keeping. Users have access to 40+ applications in 30+ languages in an intuitive and easy-to-use interface.

With the Userful Desktop you'll never need to pay for software or worry about upgrades, patches or updates. Hundreds of security safeguards are built in so your desktops are unbreakable and hacker-proof.

It's not Windows, so there are no viruses, no spyware, and no headaches.

We manage your Desktops for you remotely. Updates and patches are uploaded to your managed desktops over the Internet. You never have to worry about having the most recent versions of the applications and they're always free.

Learn more about how Userful Desktop can improve your managed computing experience in our online video series.

"We use Userful Desktop because after extensive research it proved to be the most cost effective and hassle-free method of providing public access computing to the community we serve."

 

Marc Pillon,

Library Electronic Services Supervisor,
Windsor Public Library